Avari Terran wants nothing more than to live as normal of a college life as possible with his boyfriend, Chayton, despite having wings and superpowers, being an ex-supervillain, and dating his former superhero rival.His plans of flying under the radar are jeopardized when a fan of Raven threatens to reveal his identity, unless he agrees to a forced friendship, of all things. Kaiden is … over-the-top, hyper, and capricious, and Avari is fed up with him and his blackmail threats from the moment they meet.
When strange monsters start appearing in the area that only him and Kaiden can see, blackmail becomes the least of Avari’s problems. These monsters seem to have their sights set on him, leaving Avari no choice but to take up his persona as Raven yet again and fight back, along with Kaiden’s help. Will his secret identity, and his relationship with Chayton survive through all this?
Raven is a urban fantasy supervillain/hero new adult novella with a gay protagonist, and is the second installment in the Masks series.
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** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine
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Raven (Masks #2) by Amara Lynn
154 Pages
POV: 1st person, one character POV
Content Warning: mild violence, stalking, mentions of past self-harm and mental health issues
Raven is an urban fantasy novella continuing on from the events of Book 1: Masks. Raven ventures into the delicacies of friendship, love and family, while the main character, Avari, deals with the consequences of hiding his secret identity and moving beyond his time as Raven. Juggling college, life, and his powers, the last thing Avari is prepared for is pushy fanboy Kaiden.
The story picked up shortly after the event of Book 1, which is great, because the relationship between Avari and Chayton is still so tentative and uncertain. With Avari having given up his place as Raven, the last thing he expects is for a random human to approach and blackmail him – be Kaiden’s friend, or he’ll reveal that Avari is Raven to the world. It seems like such a strange concept and one that shouldn’t work, but it actually does.
Kaiden is pushy, sure, but he also has a delicate side that is both vulnerable and a little bloodthirsty, too. It’s that side of him that allowed me to actually like and appreciate his character. Before the big revelation of his deeper personality, he was a little too stereotypical for me, but that all made sense once we knew the truth of his past.
At first, I didn’t understand why Avari gave in to Kaiden’s blackmail. After all, there was no way to prove that he was Raven, because he controlled his wings and couldn’t be forced to show them. But, at the same time, Chayton admitted in book 1 that his mask wasn’t much of a disguise, so there is some leeway to show that he wouldn’t be that hard to identify.
I still loved Chayton, but he was a little more emotional and less strong and ‘hero-esque’ than the previous book. I liked him better in book 1, but he didn’t have a big hard here, so it wasn’t so clear that he was a little more vulnerable and unsure about himself here.
Overall, Raven doesn’t have that Emo feel that book 1 had, but it’s a bit more serious, with Avari being aware of the consequences of his actions and the dangers of his powers. Though he’s still a little reckless, he wouldn’t be Avari if he wasn’t, so it was good to see the continuity of his characterisation. They slow burn between Avari and Chayton was lovely and the slow-growth of friendship between Avari and Kaiden was sweet. I loved how gradual and natural the developments were, throughout.
I’d love to see another book/story in the series, especially if it showed more of Kaiden. I really grew to love him, after a while. I’d love to see more of his story, and see Avari and Chayton working together as a team, rather than against each other.
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Favourite Quotes
“Chayton made me feel like I had a place. He felt like home. Which was a feeling I’d never experienced before.”